Dragging Around This Bag of Bones!

 

 Quotation

          Although, my dream, my nightmare, on the one hand terrifies me, on the other hand, I am joyful! Joyful because this would mean that God's plan of salvation for the world is ending. If true, I am even more determined to be a beacon of light for the unsaved, to spread the good news of the Gospel to the broken-hearted, allowing the Holy Spirit to convict, so they too, might have the opportunity to spend an eternity with God.

 

Barry Denzil Haney, MD

 

Scripture

 

My wife can't stand to be around me anymore. I'm repulsive to my family.

Even street urchins despise me; when I come out, they taunt and jeer.

Everyone I've ever been close to abhors me; my dearest loved ones reject me.

I'm nothing but a bag of bones; my life hangs by a thread.

"Oh, friends, dear friends, take pity on me. God has come down hard on me!

 

Job 19:17-21 (MSG)

 

Reflection

  

A dominant theme of Deuteronomistic history (a modern theoretical construct holding that behind the present forms of the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, the Former Prophets in the Hebrew canon, there was a single literary work), is sin and divine punishment: “when Israel obeys God, follows his will, and keeps his Law, it prospers and thrives; when it disobeys, it is punished.” (Ehrman)

 

            Is this what Job was facing, punishment by a wrathful God? Was Job dragging around his bag of bones, waiting for death, to escape divine punishment? Was Job’s suffering due to God or Satan? Did he suffer so God could win a bet with Satan? Christians would say the righteous suffering was a test by God, and because of Job’s patient endurance under duress, Job was rewarded by God. But some would disagree with this assessment of why Job suffered and would instead argue God does not reward those who suffer but overpowers them and grinds them into submission.

 

            I don’t know the answer to the philosophical argument about why people suffer. I just continue to drag this bag of bones around and will do so until the day I die. I refuse to believe the atheist/agnostic view that there is no creator God. The complexity and beauty of the creation I see around me argues against abiogenesis, the process by which life arises from non-living chemical matter, a so-called mud puddle of inorganic material. I am going to hedge my bet on a creator God, the Judeo-Christian God described in the Bible, inerrant or not!

            

                        

                                                                                             

Illustration

      It is clear from Scripture that “rejoicing in suffering” is not simply stoicism. It is not simply a grin-and-bear-it attitude of tough-it-out-and-see-how-much-you-can-take, or just-hang-in-there-until-it’s-over-and-don’t-let-anything-get-you-down or keep-a-stiff-upper-lip. Many people feel that if they do this, they are obeying God and “rejoicing in suffering.” But they are not! (Green)

 

Prayer

 

Our Heavenly Father,

 

In the Beatitudes, Your Son Jesus tells us

to be poor in spirit! Father, God help us

to be humble! Help us to hunger and thirst

for Your righteousness! Help us to be servants,

like you, willing to wash the feet of the unsaved!

 

Remind us to not only help those economically

poor, but to search out those who spiritually

poor! Let our earthly bodies serve as a conduit

through which the fruits of the Holy Spirit are

made manifest, planting the seed by which

the Holy Spirit might convict the unsaved!

 

In the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior,

 

Amen!

 

 

Worship

 

The Purpose in the Pain – Matt Hybarger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f4SmEeSKaQ

 

God Bless You,

Barry

 

Ehrman, Bart D. God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question-- Why We Suffer. New York: HarperOne, 2009. 

Green, Michael P. 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000. Print.